Concept of Expresseur

Some new music (techno, ..) are generated by computers, without human intervention (or with a restricted intervention of one person). That's a new concept very interesting, but not the scope of the music detailed in this chapter. The music analyzed hereafter is more or less the "live-music", the music which is played by human, together.

First of all, playing music if often a dialog between many people : instrumentist, singer, dancer, even the people who just listen. This human dimension cannot (yet) be managed by a computer. Any computerized solution must give a way to the instrumentist to adapt his way to play, taking care of his environment (other musicians, acoustic of the room, ...).

A barrel organ can play a complete score, pre-recorded in the machine. The instrumentist can adapt the tempo. But nothing more...

The concept of Expresseur : a musical instrument assisted by computer, to assist instrumentist for the pitches only. Other parameters are managed by the instrumentist, according to his feeling, and his environment.

Within its score-mode, Expresseur stores the pitches described in a score, and computes a rhythm line to play. Nothing more. The instrumentist adapts everything else, according to the rhythm line computed by Expresseur, his feeling, and its environment (other musicians, singers, .. ). An extensive analysis is done in this study. Demo and how it works is here.

Within its improvisation-mode, Expresseur knows about scales and chords. Nothing more. The instrumentist invents a "path" within (or outside) the proposed scale. The instrumentist does not "select a F as a 7th of the current G7 chord, because next chord is the subdominant of the cadence" (not everybody have this knowledge, please search the error in the proposition...). He does not "select F, thanks to his high-sense of music" (not everybody have this talent). The Expresseur instrumentist just follows his "way", around the scale pre-calculated by Expresseur, according to his feeling and his environment. Demo and how it works is here.

intonation : Expresseur assists the pitches and the tuning of just (or other) intonation, the instrumentist takes care of the interpretation.

Music and technology

Technology helps (and generates) progress. Even in music.

When J.S. Bach wants to invent his music, it's done in conjunction with technology (hardware : organs, math : well tempered scale). A piano is the state of the art of technology, built with/for musicians/music.

Electronic is the trigger of music of XX°, with micro-ampli-soundprocess, making possible to put together a smooth voice aside a big drum, a single bass aside a big brass quartet, ...

Computer is the trigger of music of XXI°, inventing new sounds, new way to generate music.

Some musician rejects new technology, keeping the traditional way to play, like piano. But piano is high-technology . It's like "Amish" concept, which selects an arbitrary date, to decide which technology is accepted (before this date) or not (after this date).

Expresseur uses computer technology to bridge traditional music, and new way to play. Expresseur proposes a new instrument, assisted by computer. The computer takes care of technical stuff (pitches, scales, ...). The instrumentist takes care of the music (interpretation, musical dialog between musicians, .. ). Expresseur does not cover all musician needs. But Expresseur can help for some needs. Expresseur is like a bicycle : you will not climb on the top of a mountain with a bicycle, but you can approach the beauty of this mountain by yourself, thanks to this bicycle.

Instinct/oral versus theory/writing

Music is a language.

Within the speaking-language, it is possible to speak , listen, understand without having technical knowledge (alphabet, grammar, .. ). To enjoy a dialog or to play theatre, It is not necessary to know how to read a book. But technical knowledge (reading capabilities, ..) is quite useful. Part of language, there is improvisation (the daily language we use at home, at work), but also interpretation of pre-written text (theatre, poestry, reading book). It is not improvisation versus written, nor oral versus written. It is about the both, which are complementary.

For music, that's the same. It is possible to play , listen, understand without having technical knowledge (musical theory, .. ). But some technical knowledge (reading capabilities, ..) can be useful, and can help ... Instinct-oral is useful. Theory-writing is useful. The both are very useful..